The Dispatch E-Edition

All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and
unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and
DispatchPolitics.com.
Subscribe
today!

David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets won
baseball’s Cy Young Awards yesterday.

Price barely beat out 2011 winner Justin Verlander for the American League prize in one of the
closest votes in the award’s history. Dickey was an easy choice for the NL honor in balloting by
the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Dickey, 38, became the first pitcher who relied predominantly on a knuckleball to win the award.
Runner-up two years ago in the Cy Young race, Price was the pick this time for the AL’s top
pitching prize. He received 14 of 28 first-place votes to edge Verlander, chosen first on 13
ballots. Other than a 1969 tie between Mike Cuellar and Denny McLain, it was the tightest race in
the history of the AL award.

Rays closer Fernando Rodney got the other first-place vote and came in fifth.

Price went 20-5 to tie Jered Weaver for the American League lead in victories and winning
percentage. Price, a 27-year-old left-hander, had the lowest ERA at 2.56 and finished sixth in
strikeouts with 205.

Verlander, also the league MVP a year ago, followed that by going 17-8 with a 2.64 ERA and
pitching the Detroit Tigers to the World Series. He led the majors in strikeouts (239), innings
(2381/3) and complete games (six).

Dickey finished 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA in 34 games (33 starts), the first Mets pitcher to win 20
games in a season since Frank Viola in 1990.

Dickey began the season with a 41-50 career record and a 4.34 ERA. However, in 2010 and 2011, he
began to show that he was mastering command of the knuckleball, posting 2.84 and 3.28 ERAs in those
seasons.

Notable

Free-agent outfielder Torii Hunter has agreed to a two-year, $26 million deal with Detroit,
giving the Tigers a capable corner outfielder coming off an impressive season at age 37.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity because no
announcement had been made, said the deal was pending a physical. Hunter hit a career-best .313
last season for the Los Angeles Angels, with 16 home runs and 92 RBI.

Acquiring a corner outfielder was a major offseason priority for Detroit, and Hunter won nine
consecutive Gold Gloves from 2001 to ’09 before gradually switching from center field to right.
With the exception of Austin Jackson in center field, the Tigers were largely unimpressive
defensively last season. Hunter also is a .289 career hitter against left-handers. The Tigers hit
.253 against lefties in 2012.

Detroit is chasing its first World Series title since 1984. The Tigers were swept by the San
Francisco Giants in this year’s Series.

• Left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt and the Giants completed a three-year, $18 million
contract. Affeldt went 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 67 appearances covering 631/3 innings this season for
the Giants.